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Hille Haker, PhD

Richard A. McCormick, S.J., Chair of Catholic Moral Theology

Hille Haker, Ph.D., holds the Richard McCormick S.J. Endowed Chair of Catholic Moral Theology at Loyola University Chicago. Her research focuses on the foundations of ethics, moral identity, literary & narrative ethics, Christian ethics as critical social ethics, bioethics, and feminist ethics.

Prior to joining the faculty at Loyola, Dr. Haker was Chair of Moral Theology and Social Ethics in the Catholic Theology Department of Frankfurt University (2005 to 2009), Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at Harvard Divinity School (2003 to 2005), and Heisenberg Research Scholar (2002–2003). She holds a Ph.D (1998) and Habilitation (2002) in Christian Theological Ethics from the University of Tübingen, Germany.

From 2015-2018, Hille Haker served as the President of Societas Ethica, European Society for Research in Ethics. She served on the editorial board of the International Journal Concilium for many years and in this role co-edited nine journal issues.
While working in Germany, she was a member of several Bioethics Committees, including the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies to the European Commission from 2005-2015, the German Ethics Committee of the Federal Physicians Chamber, and the Bioethics Committee of the German Bishops Conference.

Her most recent work is Towards A Critical Political Ethics. Catholic Ethics and Social Challenges. Prof. Haker is currently working on a book on two basic concepts of ethics,  Recognition and Responsibility.

Prof. Haker's publications include: Moralische Identität. Literarische Lebensgeschichten als Medium ethischer Reflexion (1999), Ethik der genetischen Frühdiagnostik (2002), and  Hauptsache gesund (2011); eight co-edited books, among them - The Ethics of Genetics in Human Procreation (2000), Ethik-Geschlecht-Wissenschaften (2006), Medical Ethics in Health Care Chaplaincy (2009), and Religiöser Pluralismus in der Klinikseelsorge (2014); multiple articles; and nine co-edited journal issues for Concilium, among them - Human Trafficking (2011), Postcolonial Theology (2012), The Return of Apocalypticism (2014), and Theology, Anthropology, and Neurosciences (2015).

 

Research Interests

  • Meta-ethics (e.g. agency, virtues and norms as ethical concepts);
  • Fundamental theological ethics and methods (normative ethics and hermeneutical/experiential ethics);
  • Social and political ethics (human rights and justice, citizenship);
  • Bioethics (reproductive medicine, human genetics, and new technologies);
  • Feminist ethics (existentialist and care ethics);
  • Aesthetics and ethics (modern literature and narratives as medium of/for ethics).

Publications/Research Listings

Monographs:
1. Towards A Critical Political Ethics. Catholic Ethics and Social Challenges. Studien zur Theologischen Ethik 156, Berlin (Schwabe) 2020.
2. Hauptsache gesund? Ethische Fragen der Pränatal- und Präimplantationsdiagnostik, München (Kösel) 2011.
3. Ethik der genetischen Frühdiagnostik. Sozialethische Reflexionen zur Verantwortung am Beginn des menschlichen Lebens, mentis: Paderborn, 2002.4. Moralische Identität. Literarische Lebensgeschichten als Medium ethischer Reflexion. Mit einer Interpretation der "Jahrestage" von Uwe Johnson, Tübingen (Francke) 1999.

Editor of Book Series:
Values in Bioethics (Brill), since 2017, with Michael McCarthy since 2023.
Medizinische Ethik in der Klinikseelsorge/Medical Ethics in Health Care Chaplaincy, Lit Verlag (4 volumes, discontinued).

Edited Books:
1. Unaccompanied Minors and the Ethics of Child Migration. Social, legal, and ethical perspectives (co-edited with Molly Greening), Lexington, Lanham 2019.
2. Religiöser Pluralismus in der Klinikseelsorge, with G. Wanderer and K. Bentele, Lit Verlag, Berlin et al. 2014.
3. Medical Ethics in Health Care Chaplaincy. Essays, Walter Moczynski, Hiller Haker und Katrin Bentele (Hrsg.), Berlin et al., Lit Verlag 2009.
4. Perspektiven der Medizinethik in der Klinikseelsorge, Walter Moczynski, Hille Haker, Katrin Bentele und Gwendolin Wanderer (Hrsg.), Lit Verlag, Berlin et al. 2009.
5. Ethik-Geschlecht-Wissenschaften, mentis Verlag, Paderborn 2006 (zus. m.  U. Konnertz u. D. Mieth). 
6. Humane Genetik? Jahrespublikation Ethik und Unterricht, diesterweg, Stuttgart 2002 (zus. m. J. Dietrich und S. Graumann).
7. The Ethics of Genetics in Human Procreation, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2000 (zus. m. D. Beyleveld).
8. Ethics of Human Genome Analysis. European Perspectives, attempto, Tübingen 1993 (zus. m. R. Hearn u. K. Steigleder).

Book Projects
1. Edited book: Entangled Responsibility, co-editing with Sónia da Silva Monteiro and Sara Wilhelm Garbers, (contracted with Fordham University Press).
2. Recognition and Responsibility: Critical Theory and Christian Ethics (in preparation).
3. Vulnerable Agency (in preparation, in conversation with Georgetown University Press).
4. Storytelling, Ethics, and Entangled Responsibility (planned).

Articles (under review, Accepted, or forthcoming): 

1. Chapter in Handbuck Gender Theologie (M. Heimbach-Stein u. J Könemann) (submitted)
2. Freedom as Liberation. Bettine von Arnim and the German Revolution. FS N.N. (submitted)
3. "Die absolute Würde des Endlichen – Streifzüge zwischen theologischer Anthropologie und Ethik", FS N.N., hg. v. Sarah Rosenhauer
4.. "Anerkennung und Verantwortung. Grundbegriffe theologischer Ethik in pluralen Gesellschaften“. FS N.N., hg. von Axel Bohmeyer 
5. Common Good und Ethik. Jahrbuch für Christliche Sozialethik, hg. von Michelle Becka.
6. Kritische Politische Ethik. In: Zum Liberalen Skript in der christlichen Sozialethik, hg. v. Christian Spieß und Katja Winkler.
7. Christlicher Nationalismus in den USA. In: Theologische Revue
8. Von der Überwältigung der Vorstellung. In: Überfallende Zeiten, hg. v. H.J. Sander, Rainer Bucher et al.

Articles 2026

English:

"Beyond Eden. A Reflection on Recognition and Responsibility in Gen 4:1-16." In: 'Where Were You When I Founded the Earth?' Essays on Primeval and Deuteronomistic History and Their Reception in Honor of Robert A. Di Vito, edited by Olegs Andrejevs, Haddad, Najeeb, Lester, Mark, Gorgias, 2026, 211-248.

German

Haker, Hille. "Ethische Überlegungen Zum Neugeborenen-Screening." In: Herder Korrespondenz 3, 2026,  29-31.

Spanish:

"Vulnerabilidad, Daño Morale Y Vergüenza En El Contexto Violencia De Abuso Sexual Clerical." In Tiempo De Reparar: Abusos En Contextos Eclesiales, edited by Carlos Álvarez, Silvia Mostaccio, and Germán Villarroel, w/o. page numbers. Santiago de Chile: Ediciones Universidad Alberto Hurtado,, 2026. (translated by Leo Menendez).

Articles for a broader Audience:

  1. "Ich will die andere Seite Amerikas feiern". In: Publik Forum 11, 12. June 2026, p. 16-18.
  2. "Der Papst aus Chicago." In: Herder Korrespondenz, Special Issue 1. Papa Leone: Leo XIV. und die Zukunft des Papstamts (2026): 23-24. ‘Care for the common home’: Christian bioethics in the Twenty-First century. In: Deryck Beyleveld, Roger Brownsword, and Marcus Düwell (eds.): Law, Governance, and Bioethics, Edgar Elger Publishing, Cheltenham, 2025, 86-103.

Articles 2025
English:
1. ‘Care for the common home’: Christian bioethics in the Twenty-First century. In: Deryck Beyleveld, Roger Brownsword, and Marcus Düwell (eds.): Law, Governance, and Bioethics, Edgar Elger Publishing, Cheltenham, 2025, 86-103.
2. Natural Law as Guide for Gender Affirming Care for Transgender Adolescents? A Critique. In Mapping a Moral Consensus: Calibrating an Ethical Compass for the Future. Festschrift in Honour of Mgr Professor Emmanuel Agius on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday Vol 2, edited by Raymond Zammit Stefan M. Attard, Kite Group, 2025, 137-155.
3. “Bonds of Power” – Intersectionality and Feminist Solidarity. In: Tabea Ott, Hannah Bleher, Nicole Kunkel, Charlotte Jacobs und Sarah Jäger (eds), Solidarität. Intersektionale Dimensionen feministisch-theologischer Ethik, Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, Research in Contemporary Religion Vol 40, 2025, 49-66.

German:

1. Der Einsatz sozialtherapeutischer Roboter in der Betreuung und Pflege älterer Menschen. Theologisch-Ethische Anfragen. In: Brand, Lukas, Martin Kutz and Dominik Winter. 2025. Instrumente Gottes: Soziale Roboter Und Ki-Tools in Religiösen Kontexten. München: Verlag Karl Alber, 255-276, 2025.
2. Spiritual Care und Klinikseelsorge-Ethik: Konzepte, Methoden, Themen. In: Coors, M., S. Farr, C. Mandry and S. Peng-Keller. Ethik in Seelsorge Und Spiritual Care: De Gruyter, 2025, 33-58.
3. Der Kampf um die Demokratie. Katholizismus und Christlicher Nationalismus in den USA. In: EthikJournal 1, 2025: Demokratie als offene Lebensform, 2025, 15-35.
4. Reproduktive Selbstbestimmung und Reproduktive Gerechtigkeit in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika. Eine feministisch-ethische Bestandsaufnahme In: „Konfliktfeld Reproduktive Selbstbestimmung. Grundlagen und Konkretionen“ (= Jahrbuch für Moraltheologie, Band 9), hg. v. Thomas Weißer et al., 2025, 51-69
5. Verletzliche Freiheit und Sorgebeziehungen. In: Monika Bobbert, Marianne Heimbach-Steins (Hg.) Sorge – Care Anthropologische Zugänge – Ethische Konzepte – Gesellschaftliche Praxen, Brill/Schöningh, 2025, 137-162.
6. "Mit eigener Stimme“ – Feministische Medizinethik in Deutschland. Ein Rückblick. In: Zeitschrift für Ethik und Moralphilosophie, 2025, 8, 237–242.

Book Review
Iozzio, Mary Jo: Disability Ethics and Preferential Justice: A Catholic Perspective. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press 2023, in: Journal of Religion 105,2 (2025), 249-251.

Articles for a broader Audience: 
1. Reich, rechts, katholisch. In: Publik Forum, September 5, 2025, https://www.publik-forum.de/religion-kirchen/reich-rechts-katholisch (see an English report at https://english.katholisch.de/artikel/64077-theologian-conservative-networks-are-turning-the-usa-into-a-theo-autocracy)
2. “Noch sprechen wir frei”. In: Publik Forum, March 2025, https://www.publik-forum.de/religion-kirchen/noch-sprechen-wir-frei
3. Theologin: Katholische Kirche trägt Mitschuld an religiösem Trump-Kult. In: Katholisch.de, 21. Jan. 2025, https://www.katholisch.de/artikel/58986-theologin-katholische-kirche-traegt-mitschuld-an-religioesem-trump-kult .

Awards

Grants:

2025 Grant from Gannon Center for Women and Leadership, Loyola University Chicago

2024 - 25 Grant from Louisville Foundation for an Ecumenical Project on Entangled Responsibility, with Sara Wilhelm Garbers, PhD.

2022-2023 Transformative Research Grant LUC: Entangled Responsibility

2021-2022 Grant from Fordham University; Grant from the Hank Center for Catholic Intellectual Heritage: Documentation of Clergy Sexual Abuse Cases connected to Loyola University Chicago

2015-2016 Faculty Fellowship, Center for the Human Rights of Children, Loyola University Chicago, “Vulnerabilities and Human Rights Violations of Children Migrating to the US Alone: An Analytical Framework for Catholic Ethics and Advocacy.”

Awards:

2023: Honorary Doctoral Degree awarded by Uppsala University, Sweden

2015-2018: President of Societas Ethica, European Society for Research in Ethics

2002 Heisenberg Scholarship, German Science Foundation (DFG)

1998 Dissertation Price of the Catholic Theology Faculty (1998)

Non-Academic Award:
2007 "Pride of the Exchange" Award for the Youth Exchange between Cloppenburg and Limerick, Ireland